DETROIT — As North Carolina prepares for the NCAA title game against Michigan State on Monday, many North Carolina basketball fans no doubt recall an unsavory reversal of fortune with a Big Ten opponent in the 1981 national championship game.
The Tar Heels that season lost to Indiana in the final game at Philadelphia, 63-50. It was the same day — March 30, 1981 — that President Ronald Reagan was shot on a Washington street by John Hinckley Jr.
In the Spectrum arena a few hours after the shooting, NCAA officials almost postponed the championship game even though the third-place game — Virginia 78, LSU 74 — was already under way. It wasn’t until Indiana coach Bob Knight and the Tar Heels’ Dean Smith agreed to play that the NCAA actually decided to proceed as scheduled.
Almost overlooked in the pre-game conversation was the fact that Indiana and Carolina had played earlier that season with the Heels taking a 65-56 win their Carmichael Auditorium on Dec. 20, 1980.
The second game went almost opposite from the regular-season meeting when Indiana pulled away from a 27-26 halftime lead to rule most of the second half. In the game at Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels turned it on after intermission and basically shut down Hoosiers’ star Isiah Thomas.
When Michigan State of the Big Ten and the Heels meet for the title Monday night at Ford Field, it will their second game this season. The Tar Heels buried the Spartans, 98-63, in the same building on Dec. 3.
And by the way, that '81 game in Philly was the last time Carolina reached the championship game and didn't win it.
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Comments
Better Choice
Mon, 04/06/2009 - 10:29 — heelsno1Why bring up the 1981 disappointment? I do not see valid comparisons. A bigger disappointment occurred when Georgia prevented the Heels from returning to the Final Four in Jordan's final season. All of that is dwelling on negatives. Tonight is a new opportunity for a special UNC team.
UNC's last 2 national titles have come over Big Ten opponents (Michigan and Illinois). UNC beat MSU on the way to a national title victory against Kansas. Go Heels!
Michigan in 1993, too
Sun, 04/05/2009 - 22:48 — patmacgroine69UNC lost to Michigan in Hawaii early in 1992-93, then beat the Wolverines for the title.
comparisons
Sun, 04/05/2009 - 15:34 — davetI agree that Carolina should be wary (as I know they are) of MSU's revenge and hometown emotion factors in tomorrow night's championship game. Otherwise, I think this is a bunch of superstition masquerading as analysis. Even if MSU wins, what happened 28 years ago in the same arena has little bearing on the outcome. It will just mean that Carolina got outplayed. And after last year's embarrassment against Kansas, Carolin has its own powerful motivators.
Which team is UNC?
Sun, 04/05/2009 - 11:49 — crcalpha14UNC is the first team since that Indiana squad to enter the title game having won their previous 5 games by at least 12 points, so which team is UNC in the 1981 comparison?
While the comparisons may be present....
Sun, 04/05/2009 - 10:46 — UNC1998I don't think it will repeat itself. Rather the 1981 team came up short and the 1982 team finished the job. in '08 the Heels laid the egg, in '09 the redemption will occur.